


Don't X Me I'm Sober

by kazaki



Category: Don't Hug Me I'm Scared (Short Film)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Epic Battles, F/M, Fan Characters, M/M, Multi, Nightmares, Original Character(s), Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-02
Updated: 2015-01-02
Packaged: 2018-03-04 21:48:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3091706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kazaki/pseuds/kazaki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>DHMIS fanfiction, set years after the DHMIS episodes. More info, pics and character designs: http://hoshinochi.blogspot.com/p/dont-x-me-im-sober-dhmis-fanfiction.html</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Soberia

“Listen to your heart; listen to your brain,  
Look in the mirror for the growth you have gained!”

“No…please stop…”

“Time is important and isn’t it strange?  
How time can make your appearance change!”

“No more…please…”

“Harry…Robin…wake up…you’ve got to wake up…please…”

“My clothes are strangling me…I can’t breathe…”

There was blood all over the kitchen floor as Harry’s spaghetti hair quickly melted into a pool of red. Robin played with his loose eyeball and sprinkled it with bright glitters. Manny started breaking all the mirrors in the house that he could find. He wanted to deny the fact that time is taking away their happiness and that creativity is making them insane.

His child-sized denim jumper could no longer encapsulate his progressed body and he could feel like all eyes were watching over him.

And at the very last moment, he exits the house through the door and the outside garden turns to a cliff. As he finally jumped to end the madness, he could still hear the echoing of the clock and the notepad:

“IT’S TIME TO GET CREATIVE!!!”

.  
.  
.

 

“Aah!” 

“Tch…another horrible nightmare…” Manny looked at his digital clock. It’s 3 in the morning. 

“It’s been 9 days already…what the hell…” he scratched his long, cerulean hair. Getting off the bed, he turned to the kitchen for a glass of cold water, but his nightmares seem to have been following him.

He could hear strange British voices within the room.

“…this is nuts. I should go see a psychiatrist tomorrow.”

The next day, he walked along the streets of his hometown towards the block where the psychiatrist lives. Unfortunately, the office was closed for an unknown reason. 

Feeling sober, Manny then resorted to spending his whole afternoon practicing with his electric guitar on his messy apartment. He fixed some detuned strings and replaced old ones with some new twangers he bought from a store nearby.

“This oughta do it…finally some peace from all that crap last night…”

Out of nowhere, Manny subconsciously plays something he knew he never played before, but was somehow familiar.

“What’s your favourite idea? Mine is being creative…”

He played on the guitar as if someone was controlling his fingers. He, for sure, didn’t know the song but was somehow able to sing the lyrics.

“…what the…is that a children’s song?” Manny wondered. “Maybe it’s from my childhood days…I can’t remember well…”

“Tch…whatever. I’ll just play another song…”

Later that night, Manny went to a local club he used to play on weeks ago, when their band wasn’t disbanded yet.

“Damn…I wonder if those guys are still here…maybe they’d reconsider the band or something…”

But instead of his former bandmates, he saw familiar faces.

“Y-you’re…Manny!?”

“Hey, it’s Manny!”

“Who’re you gu—OH! It’s Harry and Robin! Wazzup, guys!?”

The childhood friends did a group hug inside that noisy club. 

“How’s it going, Manny? We heard you used to be a guitarist for a band here…” Robin, the green-haired man in a suit, said.

“Well…” Manny scratched his head. “It’s a long story…I’ll tell ‘ya later. So Harry…I had no idea you’d end up working here! That’s cool, man!”

“Well, yeah.” Harry tossed his long, scarlet spaghetti-like hair. “Got kicked out of a lot of clubs, actually, because they thought I was a boring guy. Not my fault, they were being too demanding and it got on my nerves…”

“Oh, sorry to hear that, but hey, welcome to Club Soberia! Totally gonna come here every night now that I know you guys are here!”

And so, the trio of best buddies caught up with what they’ve missed from their childhood. But later on, the mood changed when Manny talked about the nightmares.

“You know, Manny…” Robin wiped his glasses. “Actually, I’ve been haunted by similar nightmares, too. Even more because I stay up late for my managerial stuff…I hear weird voices from the clocks…the post-it-notes…it’s creepy, man.”

“Same here…” Harry interrupted while wiping a cocktail glass. “It’s another reason why I quit some of my jobs…either arriving late or accidentally breaking drinking glasses due to my nervousness.”

Manny then remembered something else that was unusual. 

“Hey, do you guys know this song?”

And Manny sings them the strange song that came out of his lips by accident this afternoon.

“I think that song’s…pretty familiar…where’d you learn it?” Harry asked.

“Dunno…” Manny shrugged his head and facepalmed. “It sort of just…came out of my brain for no reason at all…

“Ssh…guys!” Robin pointed to the stage. “The performers are about to start!”

“I hope it’s not my ex-bandmates…” Manny worried.

“Nah…they’re out, I heard.” Harry patted his blue-haired friend’s head and smiled.

The curtains opened, revealing a couple holding a microphone each. The man had blue face paint and wore a Dracula-esque coat, and the woman had pastel-colored hair that looked like a wig and wore a balloon dress with fancy scribbles on the skirt part. 

“Ladies and gentlemen…” the announcer started the call. “Tony and Paige!”

The song-and-dance number began, as the duo moved to the floor with every beat.

Tony:  
“Late that night I park my car”

Paige:  
“Stake my place in the singles' bar”

Tony:  
“Face to face, toe to toe”

Paige:  
“Heart to heart as we hit the floor”

“These two…” Manny looked at the stage couple closely. “They remind me of some people…from our childhood…”

“You know…they do seem familiar.” Robin commented.   
“Where have I heard those accents…?” Harry exclaimed. “They sound like those from the dreams and the delusions…”

Tony:  
“Lumber up, limbo down”

Paige:  
“The locked embrace, the stumble round”

Tony:  
“I say go,”

Paige:  
“and I say yes”

Tony:  
“Dim the lights, you can guess the rest”

Both:  
“Oh love is the drug  
Oh love is, love is the drug”

The audience cheered at the singing couple with every move they make and every sparkle of their outfits. Meanwhile, Manny, Harry and Robin were still puzzled. 

After the dance number, a staff member of the club called the trio of friends to the backstage area. There, they meet Tony and Paige.

“Why hello there, Manny, Harry and Robin. Long time no see!” Paige greeted them cheerfully.  
“We’re your childhood buddies, remember!” Tony shook their hands.

In that instant, Manny, Harry and Robin remembered things from their childhood…horrible things…which is to say…

“Those nightmares….were real!?” Manny was shocked.

“Why of course, dearie!” Paige smiled. “It looks like our holoprograms for the kids are affecting you guys, too…”

“This is why we’ve come here to meet you,” Tony explained. “…so we can brighten up things. I know you think this is all a delusion, but it’s real.”

“W-what…are you guys…!? Monsters? Ghosts? Aliens?” Manny was starting to have a break down. Harry helped him. 

“Well…we don’t know.” Paige said. “All we know is that we’re tasked by a secret organization to help raise good children to become better citizens of this world…”

“But it looks like…” Tony shrugged. “…things did not go the way we expected it. We’re objects who were given human life, to be omnipresent to every kid in the world, but because we have to serve a lot of children, our bosses gave us holoprograms – clones of ourselves to appear in every child’s environment as if we were there…”

“However…the holoprograms are getting out of hand…and you were victims as well.” Paige patted Manny’s hair covered in styling gel.

“Back then, we could gain access to them, but now, our bosses have controlled them fully, and have inserted wacko ideologies like ‘green is not a creative color’…” Paige closed her eyes, dripping with black ink tears.

Harry, while trying to calm down Manny in his arms, said, “then why don’t you guys quit your bosses and become free spirits or something?”

“That’s the sad fact – we can’t.” Tony picked up his pocket watch and stared at its hands. “Without our bosses, it would be impossible for us to keep living freely. We’ll cease to exist as living beings if we defy our creators. This day just happened to be our paid vacation, so we took this opportunity to meet you guys.”

“B-but why us?” Manny’s tearful face turned back to the couple. 

“Because you went through an awful lot from the holoprograms, and yet you still faintly remember us.” Tony said. “Normal adults who’ve gone through them have already been completely brainwashed by the manipulative content. They only perceive us as objects…”

“Wow…that’s cruel.” Robin sighed. “Maybe we’re lucky…but what can we do?”

“If you have kids in your house, watch over them at all times.” Paige warned them. “If you hear creepy voices, then that’s the signal that the holoprograms are messing with them.”

“Contact us using these charms,” Tony said as he gave the group a small pocket watch and a notepad. “Tear off one of the pages and press the top button on the clock, and we’ll come running to where you are.”

With that, the two ‘agents’ vanished in a ray of light.

“T-that’s…rather unusual…” Harry looked at his two friends, who’re still shorter than him, despite the years that have gone by.


	2. Melvin

With that, the trio said a temporary goodbye to each other, gaining contact numbers for reference. Manny went back to his apartment, but received a call from his iPhone as he entered the door.

“Hello?”

“Melvin?”

“Y-you’re coming over? With dad?”

“Tomorrow? S-sure! Take care!”

The next day, Manny prepared his apartment. He tidied up the pizza boxes and swept the floor. He arranged everything to make it more presentable for his dad and little brother.

*doorbell sound*

“C-coming!”

Manny opened the door.

“Melvin! Y-you’re all alone? Where’s dad?”

“…dad’s in the hospital. Our cousin Rocky brought him there due to mild stroke.”

“…damn, that’s bad. We should go and visit—”

“Woah, so this is what an apartment looks like! I’ve never seen one in my entire life!”

Melvin set himself up on the small table and looked at the pieces of paper with lyrics and chords of songs that Manny played.

“H-hey, hands off! Those are my stuff!”

“S-sorry big bro…”

“*sigh* here,” Manny takes some pieces of paper from his bag pack on his bed. “Help yourself to some blank pieces of paper. I know you’re a good artist, so I bought you these crayons. You can have ’em.”

“T-thank you big bro!” Melvin smiled happily.

“A-anyways, I’m gonna call Rocky for the details of dad’s whereabouts, stay there and don’t do anything stupid, okay!”

And so, Manny called Rocky in his iPhone for directions to his dad’s hospital room. Meanwhile, Melvin was being haunted by strange imaginary friends.

“W-what do you mean…Rocky…”

“I…didn’t tell your little bro because he’d be shocked but…the truth is…Uncle Roy…”

“….”

“N-NO!!! NO WAY! NO F*%@ING WAY! HE’S…NOT…”

“Then come over and check out your dad. Here’s the address…”

Manny quickly scribbles the details on a notepad in his pocket, which happens to be the notepad that Paige gave him. 

“No…dad…no way…I don’t wanna believe it…”

“T-thanks bro, I’ll go there right away.”

As soon as he turned off the call, he heard a sinister laughing sound in the dining room, where Melvin sat and draw stuff.

“…”

“…..Melvin?”

Melvin was holding scissors against his right eye.

“DAMMIT MELVIN DON’T BLIND YOURSELF!! GIVE THAT BACK!!”

“IT’S TIME…TO GET CREATIVE!!!”

“NO MELV—”

.  
.  
.  
.

As Manny rushed his bleeding brother to the hospital, he immediately called Robin and Harry, who both escaped from their jobs temporarily to help their friend. He also quickly recalled the notepad and the clocked and triggered them.

After a few hours of surgery, Melvin was resting until he woke up to see his big brother. He didn’t understand how and why he did that. He’s lost his right eye and Manny was devastated. 

“Melvin…we’re sorry for what happened…” Paige cried.  
“We’re just objects.” Tony added. “We don’t have all the time in the world either.”

“No, it’s my fault…I got distracted by dad’s condition that I forgot…” Manny sobbed and Harry comforted him yet again.

“I say…” Harry’s eyes darkened. “…we arrange a revolution against your secret organization. You wanted to quit so badly, right? Then why don’t we fight back? This manipulation is too much…it’s gonna kill all of our good children…”

“Harry…” Paige stopped crying, as Tony lent her a handkerchief. “We’ll do as you say!”  
“But it’s just gonna be the two of us agents.” Tony exclaimed. “We need the others as well.”

“Can we help? Where do we find the other agents?” Robin asked.

“If you encounter weirdly-dressed people who suddenly appear out of nowhere, then that’s an agent. You’ll know them by their weird, manipulative aura.” Paige explained.

“Paige, Tony…” Manny stood up from his chair. “We’ll begin tonight. Robin and Harry can go back to their jobs, I’ll take care of my little brother for now.”

“I shall contact you if we find other agents who’ll agree to this plan of yours.” Tony said. “Don’t be late tonight!”

With everyone gone, Rocky entered the room and approached his cousin Manny.

“Hey Manny…the cremation room…”

“A-already?”

“That’s why I called you as early as possible. I want you to see your dad for the last time.”

Manny hurried to the room where his father’s corpse laid. Even with the revolting smell, he opened the sheets and looked at his dad. According to the doctors, he died of cardiac arrest. 

“Dad…I’m sorry for not being there for you…if there was only some way I could make it up to you…” Manny cried grossly but wholeheartedly.

“M a n n y . . . .” he heard a strange voice in his head. Time had stopped around him and he saw a holographic ghost of his father on another corner of the room, about to ascend somewhere.

“D-dad! I’m so sorry!! Please forgive me! Please…”

“I t ‘ s o k a y , s o n . . .”

“Is there anything I can do to make it up to you, dad?” Manny knelt down in despair while looking at his father’s bright spirit face.

“ . . . s o n , d o n ‘ t f o r g e t t o e r a s e y o u r b r o w s i n g h i s t o r y . . . “

“W-wait what?”

“I m u s t g o n o w . . . p l e a s e d e s t r o y L u m e r a O r d e r . . .”

“I don’t understand…dad! Don’t go just—”

“…yet.”

And with that, his father disappeared before his eyes. The cremation was about to take place, as Manny and Rocky finally exited the room. 

“Even though dad was saying weird things…he was smiling. I’m relieved now.” Manny was still tearful. 

Rocky patted him, as he took him back to his brother’s room.


	3. Calling

Later in the afternoon, Harry was tasked to shop for food supplies. At a local grocery store, he bumped into a weirdly-dressed woman. She wore a chef hat, a large apron that looked like a blue-white striped gown, cooking gloves, candy-patterned boots and hair that smelled like pasta, matching his own spaghetti-like hair. 

But unlike what he’d expect from Tony and Paige’s eyes, this person seemed sober as she read her grocery list.

“S-sorry, miss…”

“N-no, it’s ok—OH! Harry…! Whoops—I mean random strang--”

“I...don’t remember you…but you got my name right…” Harry tossed his spaghetti hair. “Are you, by any chance, an ‘agent’, too?”

“Y-yes! How’d you know?” The woman exclaimed but in a whispery tone. “Could it be that pastel hair told you? Damn that talkative notepad…”

“W-well yeah…but listen…we need you and other agents tonight. Paige and Tony are going to arrange a meeting.”

“For what? A revolution? We’ve planned that years ago, but some of our agents died. Not trying it again.”

“Oh, c’mon, please!” Harry insisted. “My best bud’s little bro stabbed his eye with a scissor because of those holo-whatever things. We’ve gotta put an end to this, otherwise, many more children…”

“To be honest with you…” the woman’s tone saddened. “…there were many children who ended up being sober for the rest of their lives, too, because of those holoprograms, and I only realized it too late. People are adding harmful chemicals to their food just to make them look tastier. Some are going through tough anorexic diets just to get accepted by society…it’s not right…”

“I wanted another revolution but…it’s gonna be hard, considering people nowadays don’t believe in us anymore…”

“We believe…and there are still kids out there.” Harry stared at the woman’s eyes. “Oh, how rude of me, may I ask of your name?”

“…Sophie the Spatula. I’m responsible for food lessons.” The woman said in a shy way. “What time did Tony want us to gather?”

“Not sure yet, but I’d like to ask for your contact numb—”

“Here.” Sophie gives him a small spatula. “Slam that onto any hard surface and I’ll be there.”

“Thank you. See you tonight…”

“Sure…spaghetti hair…”

Harry blushed secretly while shopping off to another aisle.

.  
.  
.

Meanwhile in a corporate building, Robin was busy with his papers when a weirdly-dressed woman came in.

“H-hey! Where’s your ID? Are you a supplier or--?”

Robin’s eyes were marvelled at what he saw. The woman had brown glasses in which one side had a camera-like lens, wavy highlighted hair with shades of chesnut, blonde and others, dressed in a rainbow gown with golden heels, and smelled like expensive perfumes. Her pupils were star-shaped. 

“Y-you can see me!?” The woman exclaimed, as she slowly bent down to reveal her cleavage to the man on the big chair. Robin was caught in the moment.

“W-well…I…y-you’re an ‘agent’…right?”

“Ohohoho! So you CAN see me! That pastel pad sure is making a ruckus, huh? If you can see me though, that means you still have faint memories of me…”

“Well, I do remember a talking camera but it was pretty vague.” Robin said. “And…erm…she told us to recruit you guys…for a revolution….”

“Revolution? You mean, finally get rid of our bosses? Sure!”

“Y-you easily agreed?” Robin was all sweaty as the strange woman caressed his face.

“Well, yeah. I mean…” the woman turned away and looked at the sunset in the window, slightly smothered by the Venetian blinds. “A lot of children who went under my holoprograms committed suicide…to much fame is bad…really bad…I don’t want that, but I have no choice…I’m a camera…”

“W-what’s your name, miss?”

“I’m Carrie!”

“N-nice to meet you…if you please, I’d like a contact number or so—”

“Here.” Carrie hands out a small camera. “Just take a picture of anything and I’ll be there!”

.  
.  
.

After a while, Manny let Rocky take care of his brother in the hospital, and told him to watch over him carefully, as he searched the town for more agents. He got distracted, though, with a new and expensive guitar that was displayed in a music shop.

“Damn…I gotta have that baby…just need to find myself a good job…”

“You’re quite the musician now, eh, Manny?” a woman beside him looking at the shop’s items interrupted his daydreaming.

“W-what the—oh hi there, miss!” 

Manny was surprised at the woman’s get-up. She wore monochromatic colors and her dress had piano keys on the skirt part. Her pupils were shaped like an eighth note and she had G-clef earrings. 

“Y-you’re…”

“My name is Pia the Piano…you may not remember me well, but if you can see me, then you probably do!”

“Pia…I think I do remember…you appeared a few days after Paige and Tony did…”

“That’s great! I’m glad you recall!” Pia smiled. “Actually, I’m the one who sent the subconscious message to your brain to play Paige’s song randomly…because I’m the one who composed that for Paige!”

“Whoa…really? Thanks a lot…”

“Is that a compliment or sarcasm?” Pia chuckled.

“Well…maybe both but, I guess you know the deal, right? Paige must’ve told you…”

“Yep, Paige already talked to me a little while ago. You don’t have to sweat the details…”

“Well…”

“Here.” Pia gives him a miniature piano. “Play anything you want and I’ll be there!”

“Sure…see ‘ya later…Pianogater.”

“Hahaha…Manny, you’re still lame with jokes.”

“Whatever…”

.  
.  
.

On that night, it was 7:30 PM. The meeting was about to start. Manny had a long nap and hurried to the park. He bumped into his friend, Harry, who was also on his way.

Manny couldn’t describe it, but every moment that Harry was with him, it was those desperate times he was going to break down on something, that this big red guy was keeping him sane and comforting him. He was like a father to him. Maybe, he was more of a father to him than Roy…

“W-we’d better get going, Harry.”  
“Yeah…we don’t want to get scolded by that dorky Dracula from Avatar.”  
“Hahaha…totally hate that guy, huh?” Manny chuckled as they walked towards the spot where Tony and Paige sat with a couple of other agents who were already there. 

Harry only smiled – the first smile he’s ever done since the “olden days”.

And as expected, Tony scolded them off, including the agents who were late.

“Anyways, today will be the dawn of a new era for the agents, and the children of this world.” Paige led the crowd. So, let’s all introduce each other to these three, okay?

“Pia the Piano?”  
“Present.”

“Sophie the Spatula?”  
“Here.”

“Carrie the Camera?”  
“In the flash! Get it? Heheheh!”

“Becky the Bed?  
“….zzz.” Becky was sleeping. Pia played her keys on her skirt to wake her up.  
“O-oh! Sorry…I’m here…”

“Will the Wallet?”  
“Here.”

“Samuel the Smartphone?”  
Samuel was busy with his smartphone and Sophie knocked him off with a spatula.  
“Oh…right…I’m here…I guess…sorry…hang on…”

Tony and Paige facepalmed.

“And lastly, Letty the leaf?”  
They couldn’t find her, because she forgot to transform to her human form. She’s still a leaf sitting on the bench.

“H-hey, Letty! You forgot to transform again!” Carrie whispered.  
“OH! I’M SO SORRY…!!!” And with that, Letty became her human form, a little girl about half the height of Manny.

“So now that we’ve got to know each other, it’s time to start discussing the infiltration plan.” 

Paige and Tony then proceeded to educate everyone about Lumera Order, the secret organization that manages all agents and holoprograms. They were going to battle against other agents, their own holoprograms, security people, and reset the holoprogram main database. And most importantly, destroy the organization completely.

There were some passers-by, a woman and a child. The child stared at the humanized objects, leaving the mother to guess, assuming her daughter is only pretending to see imaginary friends.


	4. Change

The operation will now begin. Since Robin has an access card to the building (because his company is part of the group of companies of Lumera Order, though he didn’t know it was Lumera in the first place), he entered first, with a disguised Carrie who took pictures of the security stuff and sent them via Samuel’s iCloud-like application. With this, Samuel was able to hack down all of the electrical output, leaving the building in total darkness. All the CCTVs were shut off, too. The employees and the pro-agents panicked in the building, but with the help of Paige’s creativity and Samuel’s technology, they were able to design custom night-vision glasses that are invisible to other people. 

The groupings were as follows:  
• Team Alpha: Manny, Pia, Paige, Tony  
• Team Beta: Harry, Sophie, Will, Samuel  
• Team Gamma: Robin, Carrie, Becky, Letty

They’ve cleared off half of the floors, but unfortunately for Team Gamma, Becky fell asleep again. Letty and Carrie protected Robin, but unfortunately, their opponent agent was too strong and used the weather to lightning-rod their night vision glasses and defeat them. It also hit Robin’s right eye, but he was still alive. He then hurriedly escaped to another team in a certain block while carrying his defeated agent team (all back to their object forms and unconscious). However, to his surprise, Becky activated a small black cloud of dust that caused all of the enemies they encounter to drop on the floor and seemingly have nightmares.

Robin teamed up with Harry, but found out that Will and Samuel were already defeated and unconscious like Letty and Carrie. Sophie was protecting them, but she, too was out of strength – except she left a heap of rotting cheese before her consciousness faded away. They made a run for it, covering their noses and leaving their enemies dizzy from the foul odor.

On the top floor, Manny’s team was fighting an agent who can impersonate another. But to their surprise, the agent disappeared from their sight, leaving a stronger agent who fired with sharp knives. Manny was able to dodge them but he got totally exhausted, leaving the last few ones taken in by Harry, who defended him. Some of Harry’s spaghetti hair was cut and his arm was badly wounded, almost cut off but not yet.

“Dude…I’m sorry…” Manny blamed himself again. “I’m always the helpless one…I really suck…”

“Don’t be so…hard on yourself…” Harry smiled, yet again. “Now c’mon, let’s finish this monster in front of us and get to the rooftop.”

Pia, who was already exhausted, played tunes to help freeze the villain. Manny was given a magical electric guitar by the piano woman and he played along. As if it wasn’t enough, she also gave Harry a magical drumset, Paige a synthesizer, Tony a lead guitar and Robin a bass guitar. They played loud music, which made the enemy’s ears bleed and drop on the floor, reverting back to an object (when an agent gets defeated/out of consciousness, they revert back to objects unless they became conscious again).

When they finally went to the roof, something was weird. 

“Get away from me, birdbrain! Your hair is gross!” Paige exclaimed, looking at Robin in a psycho way. 

Manny remembered something. “Wait, didn’t Paige tell us before that the ‘green is not a creative colour’ thing was only the idea of the holoprograms? Is this really Paige or…?”

“I guess not.” Tony quickly stabbed Paige with his bayonet that looked like a clock’s hand. From the wound in her body oozed black ink, but there were slight glitches that appeared before her, indicating that she is, indeed, not Paige at all.

“Who’re you?” Manny shouted angrily.

“Probably the one we fought earlier, I presume.” Tony said as he kept stabbing her more. “Does stabbing make you feel good? Are you some sort of a masochist, huh?”

‘Paige’ then looked at him and laughed in a psychotic way, and finally transformed back to the dark, shadowy agent they fought earlier. Tony was furious and kept hitting the agent until he returned back to being a shadow.

“Where’s Paige, you insufferable prick?”

“…at…the Heaven’s Tower…” the shadow then pointed upwards, where a stair-like hologram suddenly came out of the clouds.

“Good.” Tony drew back his bayonet. “C’mon team, we’ve got a pastel hair to rescue.”

“R-right!” everyone supported him.

Survivors: Tony, Manny, Harry, Robin, Pia, Becky (who woke up)  
Missing: Paige

And so the team climbed up to the tower, to finally face a table of men in tuxedos, sitting and waiting for them. It was Lumera Order, at last. Paige was tied up on the center stage. 

Meanwhile, Pia and Robin went to a secret entrance that was shown to them earlier by Samuel before the operation. In the instant, they deployed Samuel’s “code” and shut down all the holoprograms, leaving only the organization members and our heroes.  
“Give her back!” Tony aimed his bayonet-thing. “We just want to be free…to be doing what we’re supposed to do…for the sake of the chil—”

Just then, Tony was shot by one of the tuxedo guys using a space-age raygun.

“Tony!” Paige exclaimed.

“You’re nothing but aliens…outsiders…you don’t have the right to talk against the owners of your territory.”

“Y-you guys are aliens?” Manny asked.

“Y-yeah…” Tony was bleeding but he smiled. “We came here to educate people, but this organization has taken advantage of us, since we can only manifest our physical being in objects, and only a few people can see us.”

“We need to do something…”

Just then, Paige unexpectedly broke free because she had a palette knife hidden within her hair all along. With that, she cuts off the ropes and massacres half of the tuxedo guys, in psychopathic rage. 

“You’re just humans….you can’t control us….”

Tony then helped by fighting the bad guys, even with their laser thingies. Manny and Harry helped too.

But just then, there was a bright light from above when one of the tuxedo guys pushed a remote. It instantly turned all the agents back into unconscious objects. 

“Guys…please wake up…”

“Please…we need you to save this world…”

“Hey…”

Suddenly, since Becky had the power to teleport people and she wasn’t affected by the light (because she was asleep), she transferred every agent in the team, along with Manny, Harry and Robin, in the town square, where many people are wondering what’s up with that giant spaceship-thing in the sky that’s glowing.

“Tell them about us.” Becky whispered to the three. “Let the kids who can see us believe.”

And so they did as told. Some kids went near them and tried to wake up the objects. Sooner, the objects started to glow and the grown-ups, too, started to see them. They also started to remember memories of them when they were kids. 

So, everyone woke up, finally.

“Mind if I borrow your megaphone, Pia?” Paige immediately grabbed something from Pia’s back.

“H-hey!” Pia was startled, but agreed, anyway.

“Listen, everyone! We are the agents and guardians who came from another planet. You may remember us as the inanimate objects who spoke to you during childhood, teaching you lessons. But those lessons were not from us – they were from this evil organization that we must defeat! For us to become stronger, we need a million humans to believe in us because our powers multiply for every knowledge and faith that could change this world…!”

“So guys, are you with me!”

The crowd shouted in cheer. Everyone was now part of the team.

As Becky lifted everyone up to the space-ship thingy, they finally faced the remaining tuxedo guys. They were overwhelming with power, more than before.


	5. Dreamer

“My dream for this world…” Manny said as he joined the battle against the tuxedo guys. “…is for children to not be brainwashed…to live freely…to learn without boundaries…to be free of standards…”

“You may say that I’m a dreamer…but I’m not the only one.”

“Quit stealing Lennon’s lines, bub!” Pia chuckled as she slays one of the tuxedo guys.

“Hahaha, whatever. I love that guy.” Manny only smiled.

So finally, when they defeated all of the tuxedo guys, it was all clear to Manny and his friends. But Manny didn’t know something yet. 

“Manny, we need to tell you something.” Harry patted him, as his wounded shoulder magically healed.

“Manny, please don’t be surprised.” Robin said, as he got his eye back as if nothing happened.

“W-what….do you mean?” Manny was shocked.

“We’re…just like them…” 

“W-what!? H-how…but I thought you were…”

“This isn’t your universe, Manny. Look at your jacket.” Harry smiled.

Manny looked at his jacket. It had a letter “D” sewn on the pocket. He didn’t know what it stood for. 

 

“Harry was supposed to be a lobster teaching about hairstyling and Robin was supposed to be bird to teach about freedom.” Paige said.

“But now that this battle is all over…I want you to know that you can now go back to your own world.” Tony said.

Manny was still full of questions.

Tony and Paige opened up a portal from the stage where Paige was once tied up to. Harry and Robin led him to the light that showed fuzzy colors. 

Harry handed an envelope to Manny as he bade farewell to his friend. It was fleeting and Manny can still see his spaghetti hair flying.

“Say you’ll remember us…Manny…”

.  
.  
.  
.  
.

“Wh…”

“Where…”

“Harry? Robin?...”

He looked at the clock and got up on his bed. 

“Tony?”

He stared at his notebook on the desk.

“Paige?”

“…c’mon guys…talk to me….”

“Was that…just all a big dream….?”

“Hey…don’t be like that…”

“Say something….I’m nearly giving up…”

“You guys are real…right?”

He looked at two stuffed toys in his bed. They looked like Harry and Robin. No…they ARE Harry and Robin. The clock was indeed Tony. The notebook was indeed Paige.

But it was really all his brain’s imagination and his heart’s desire to live on.

He then realized that it wasn’t his own room.

A man came out of the door. 

“Son!! You’re awake! Honey! Big bro! Our son’s awake! C’mon!”

His parents and an older-looking uncle named Roy hugged the boy who had a bizarre dream. 

“Mama…Papa…I had the strangest dream…and I felt like you were in it…but in the form of a clock…a notebook…some puppet animals…and many others…we saved the world…”

“You did, huh?” Said the father.  
“You’ll meet more friends, soon!” Said the mother.

As the boy got out of the hospital, he looked at the calendar. It was June 19, 1955. When the family got home, the boy discovers an envelope in his pocket. He quickly opened it when he was in his own bedroom. It read the message:

“To you from the past, do not be afraid. Your dreams will come true, and we will be waiting for you.

\--your best buddies, Harry, Robin, Tony, Paige, etc.

We love you! Be a good boy!”

The boy looked at his window and kept the letter on his notebook. 

“The future will exist…and it will be a good one…”

THE END


End file.
